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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam
The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.
Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.
Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!
Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.
Click here to report a problem with this page.
Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- ",000,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
- They don't notify winners by email.
- You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
- They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
- They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
- They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
- They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
- They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- euromillions2012@yahoo.co.jp (Yahoo, Japan; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "EUROMILLIONE LOTERIA ESP" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <euromillions2012@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2012 20:25:02 +0100
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION/FINAL AWARD
WINNING NOTIFICATION/FINAL AWARD.
EUROMILLIONE LOTERIA ESP
AVD, DE LAS CONCHA
MADRID ESPANA
RE: YOUR ATM CARD IS READY:
ATTN; WINNER,
We are pleased to inform you of the release of the long awaited results of the EUROMILLIONE LOTERIA S.A PROMOTION held on 15th of Oct 2012 your email address attached to the Ticket No:TK/365\\9NK that drew the lucky Winning No Y-871GTu.
Your payment has been approved and your winnings of 3,000,000.00Euros (THREE MILLION EURO) in cash credited will be credited to your account or sent by ATM card to you
To begin your claim, contact the below officer
Transfer Manager: Mr.Anthonio Cardenia
Email: euromillions2012@yahoo.co.jp
Tel: +34 93 366 6221
YOUR SECURITY FILE NUMBER IS D1-67/WM4 (keep personal) should there be any change in your address do inform your claims agent as soon as possible.
Congratulations once again.
Yours Sincerely,
Mrs. Rita Mendez
EUROMILLIONE LOTERI
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